Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time was for a GP appointment in (a) Woking constituency, (b) Surrey, (c) the South East and (d) England in each of the last seven years.

Information on the average waiting time for general practitioner (GP) appointments at local and national level is not collected or held centrally.

The GP Patient Survey, published by NHS England, asks respondents across England how long it took for them to see a GP or a nurse after contacting their practice. The full set of survey releases can be found here:

https://gp-patient.co.uk/surveys-and-reports

According to the latest release, published in July 2016:

- Almost two in five patients (37.6%) said that they were able to see or speak to someone on the same day as initially contacting the surgery,

- One in ten (10.7%) saw someone on the next working day,

- Three in ten patients (29.3%) saw or spoke to someone a few days later,

- 18.6% waited a week or more to see or speak to someone.

This does not take account of circumstances where patients express a preference to pre-book an appointment for a later date.

The Government is committed to improving access to general practice. By 2020, everyone will have access to routine evening and weekend appointments.